


no explanation necessary

by damnmysterytome



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 15:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6383119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karen and Frank had an agreement when it came to their pasts – they didn't talk about it much, whether it came from a place of wanting to spare each other from the pain they've both suffered or just not wanting to talk about it. It didn't matter the reason, they had an unspoken agreement. They both had their things – Karen had the days where she would completely disappear off the map and Frank had items and places around the city. He didn't save much before he blew up his house, but the things he did save, Karen never questioned the new items around her apartment. Frank never questioned when Karen would disappear for a few days a month.</p>
            </blockquote>





	no explanation necessary

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this anon on tumblr; have u considered frank's thermos was a gift from his wife before he went overseas because she knows he needs coffee like air, after all she's the one who taught him to make it taste like battery acid & one day frank loses the thermos on a job and he's so distraught about it but he comes home the next day and sees it on the counter because karen goddamned page waded into enemy territory and bribed a police officer to her bring it back.
> 
> i don't know if they meant for me to get inspired and write a fic for it, but... they should have known this would happen.

Karen and Frank had an agreement when it came to their pasts – they didn't talk about it much, whether it came from a place of wanting to spare each other from the pain they've both suffered or just not wanting to talk about it. It didn't matter the reason, they had an unspoken agreement. They both had their things – Karen had the days where she would completely disappear off the map and Frank had items and places around the city. He didn't save much before he blew up his house, but the things he did save, Karen never questioned the new items around her apartment. Frank never questioned when Karen would disappear for a few days a month.

When Frank returned home one day from work, which was the only way that Karen could handle thinking about what Frank did, in a particularly bad mood – Karen had assumed that something had gone wrong.

“Hey Frank?” Karen called out to him from the kitchen, rinsing out the mugs from breakfast to set them in the dishwasher. She turned her head to look at him, but Frank hadn't looked up from the paper. “Frank.” She said again, setting a hand on her hip.

Hearing her this time, Frank looked up at Karen and his lips almost turned up in a smile at the sight of Karen, with a towel over her shoulder and her hand on her hip. “Yeah?”

“Where's your thermos? It wasn't on the counter this morning.” She asked. As far as she knew, Frank never went anywhere without the thermos. She had always figured it was one of those things, one of the things they kept from each other. But still, she did insist on washing it every day. Even if it didn't go in the dishwasher.

Frank's demeanor changed almost immediately, his shoulders tightening and the amused look falling from his face. “Lost it.” He grunted, his eyes falling back to the paper.

“Lost it?”

“Irish saw me on the roof, had to get out of there. Slipped my mind.”

The way Frank spoke, Karen choose not to press it any further. She turned back to the dishwasher, finished loading it, and shut it. She set it to run before pulling the towel off her shoulder and setting it on the counter. She picked up her travel mug and her purse before walking over to the table where Frank was standing. “I gotta go, I'll see you tonight?” Frank doesn't talk, but he gives her a quick nod. Karen leans down and presses her lips against his forehead quickly before heading out. If Frank lost it and the Irish knew where he was, Karen knows exactly where she can find it.

* * *

 

It doesn't take long for Karen to learn about what happened the night before. Frank had been staking out the Irish, but the Irish had been staking out the nearby rooftops. There were a lot of bullets, a lot of blood, and a lot of cops called.

“Brett!” Karen shouted, picking up her pace and jogging up to Detective Sergeant Brett Mahoney.

“Ms. Page, what can I help you with today?”

“Hopefully we can help each other.” Karen said, following the man into his office. She'd worked with him before, feeding him information that she'd gotten from her research for articles at the paper – and during her research for Frank and Daredevil. She figured he owed her a favor or two. “The attack on the Irish last night...”

“We know it was The Punisher.” Brett turned to look at Karen, crossing his arms from behind his desk.

“Not why I'm here, not entirely.”

“Why are you here?”

“Did you find a thermos?” Karen asked, pressing her hand against the back of a chair.

“Might have.”

Karen knew this wasn't going to be easy. She opened her purse and pulled out a fairly thick folder. “This is everything I have on a new ring of fighting. The homeless being kidnapped and used to fight to the death. I know you've been looking into it. I think my folder is bigger.” She said. “In exchange for the thermos, you can have everything I have, even if it gets me in trouble with the Punisher.”

Brett stared at Karen for a few moments, wondering if the trade off was worth it. He could make it seem like the thermos never existed, that would be easy. And the file Karen had was much bigger than the one he had.

It was a few moments, but Brett nodded and cleared his throat. “Give me five minutes.” Karen nodded, holding the files close to her chest.

“You'll get the file when I have the thermos.”

* * *

 

Karen woke up late at night when she heard the front door slam shut, signaling that Frank was home. Still in a foul mood, clearly. She lied awake for ten minutes before she climbed out of the bed. She was wearing Frank's t-shirt and her underwear, that was all she could bare to wear in the apartment. It was in the middle of summer and the AC was out. Frank kept saying he'd fix it, but he never got around to it.

Frank was standing in the kitchen by the counter where she had set the thermos, his hands on the counter and his head hung low. Karen leaned against the wall and watched as the muscles in his back shook. It took her a moment to realize that Frank was crying, something that she had only seen a few times in her the time she'd known him.

She took a step back to head back to their bedroom, but she was stopped by his voice.

“How'd you do it?” His voice was steady despite the tears, even if he wasn't looking at her she knew they were there.

“Pulled in a favor, traded some files.” Karen didn't mention which file it was, that would be an argument later. She walked up behind Frank and ran her hand up his back. Frank lifted his hand and brought it to his face to wipe his eyes off before he turned to her.

Frank pulled Karen against him, holding her tightly against him, and buried his head into her shoulder. He let out another sob, his grip on her almost too tight. Karen didn't say anything, she just wrapped her arms around him and ran her hand up and down his back.

She didn't need to ask to know why the thermos was so important to him, and she didn't care. They both had their things.


End file.
